I am a sucker for both dark comedies and murder mysteries, so admittedly HBO’s new limited seriesThe Fight Attendantis directly in my wheelhouse. Based on the novel byChris Bohjalian, the series follows Cassie Bowden (Kaley Cuoco), a barely-functioning alcoholic who uses her position on the flight crew of a major commercial airliner as a convenient excuse to get absolutely smashed in some of the most beautiful cities in the world. She meets a handsome stranger named Alex (Michiel Huisman) on a flight to Bangkok and spends a boozy, passionate evening with him, only to wake up next to his murdered corpse the following morning with no memory of what happened. (I hate it when that happens.)
Rather than call the police, Cassie panics and gets the hell out of there, boarding her flight back to the States and doing her best to act like everything is fine. But she quickly tops the FBI’s list of suspects thanks to her increasingly erratic behavior as she takes it upon herself to solve the mystery of who Alex was and why somebody wanted him dead. “Waking up next to a dead body” is a bit of an overdone premise, but after watching the first four episodesThe Flight Attendantstands out thanks to clever writing, an engaging mystery, and a magnetically chaotic performance from Kaley Cuoco.
First off, let it be known that unlike many alleged “dark comedies,”The Flight Attendantis actually very funny, and Cuoco is hands-down its best asset. Cuoco is a veteran of television comedy, so it shouldn’t really be much of a surprise that she can carry a show like this. And anyone who has watched the excellent R-rated superhero deconstructionHarley Quinnknows Cuoco can expertly switch between manic, zany, and empathetic with nimble frenetic energy, which is a skill she utilizes perfectly to make Cassie an entertaining train wreck for whom we also care deeply.
Cassie is A Mess™, andThe Flight Attendantdoes a great job of driving this point home in its opening montage as she enjoys the life of a young, attractive woman working a job that allows her the freedom to party around the world. Her messiness becomes an increasing issue as the mystery unfolds (indeed, it is the main reason she is implicated in a grisly murder), and we begin to see flashes of some insidious childhood memories that will undoubtedly explain why Cassie is such a wreck. At first, it’s mostly fun – Cassie’s drunken antics are charmingly embarrassing, and she never does anyone but herself any real harm. But as her situation grows more dire, the glamorous veneer of her jet-setting lifestyle begins to melt way to reveal an extremely lonely woman struggling with depression and abandonment, and a deep-seated guilt that was festering inside her long before she woke up next to a dead man. Her strained relationship with her older brother Davey (T.R. Knight) result in some especially gutting scenes, including one painful sequence in which she shows up drunk to a family outing with Davey’s young daughters and tries disastrously to be the “fun aunt.” It never gets as dark as, say,Bojack Horseman, butThe Flight Attendantpunctuates Cassie’s comedic debauchery with the reality of alcoholism in a way that gets you invested in her (hopeful) recovery.
The scenes between Cassie and Alex are some of the best moments of the series. Huisman plays Cassie’s doomed one-night-stand Alex with warm good humor, and even though Alex is murdered in the opening ten minutes of the first episode, he remains a major character thanks to a clever narrative device in which Cassie keeps speaking to his ghost in her mind to try and sort through the mystery. Their entire relationship develops through these imagined conversations and through flashbacks of their brief evening together into a bittersweet quasi-romance. Cassie’s initial shock and panic is gradually infected by genuine sadness over Alex’s death as she begins to pry memories of him out of the alcoholic fog that cloaks her recollection of that night, and their playfully comic interactions gradually become more and more tragic as she becomes attached to his ghost. Their post-mortem relationship grows more complicated as Cassie uncovers more details about Alex’s life, casting doubt on whether Alex was a victim or a villain and if Cassie truly is innocent of his murder.
Another high point isBlake Neely’s score, which provides a lot of jauntily grim fun. A slew of very jazzy piano-driven pieces carry us through the series, dancing between playful and menacing but never completely embracing the latter. The music knows mysteries are fun to watch and it is embracing that fact, particularly during the delightfully trippy opening credits sequence. The score helps makeThe Flight Attendantfeel like a noir, which it technically is although it isn’t filmed like one.
One bump inThe Flight Attendant’s charmingly enjoyable flight plan is the plot’s heavy reliance on magical background characters. Cassie just so happens to be best friends with Ani (Zosia Mamet), a shrewd, tough-as-nails lawyer who conveniently keeps Cassie out of federal custody so the story can keep going. Meanwhile, Ani just so happens to have friends who owe her favors in literally every area of danger into which Cassie stumbles – one quick phone call, and Cassie is able to stay one step ahead of both the FBI and Alex’s sinister-ass parents who literally almost murder her after she gets caught snooping around at Alex’s wake.
Ani even has a friend who can pull tapes of every security camera in the New York subway system, which OK, sure. And Ani just so happens to be dating Max (Deniz Akdeniz), an impossibly gorgeous computer hacker who swoops in out of nowhere to help Cassie uncover more of the mystery surrounding Alex’s murder. Stories rely on convenience, happy accidents, and pure luck because they’re stories, and they need things to unfold in exciting and surprising ways. But the constant Deus Ex Machina of Ani is exhausting, and effectively undercuts Cassie’s role in solving her own mystery. HBO Max only provided the first four episodes for review (there are 8 total), so I cannot level this criticism with 100% certainty, but the fact that it’s been a regular device for half of the story doesn’t fill me with confidence that it’s going to stop happening.
Another hiccup isRosie Perez. Now, before I go any further, let me make it absolutely clear that Rosie Perez is great and she’s doing a great job inThe Flight Attendantas Cassie’s nosy coworker friend Megan. The problem is the B plot, in which Megan engages in some industrial espionage at the behest of a pair of vaguely sinister Japanese businessmen. I’m sure this will end up connecting to the main mystery in some way, but by the end of Episode 4 it’s only serving as a dull distraction from Cassie’s infinitely more interesting ordeal. It’s like every time they cut away to Dorne inGame of Thrones, and like those scenes in Dorne, I’m worried Megan’s B plot ultimately isn’t going to matter much.
Those complaints aside,The Flight Attendantis a refreshing treat for mystery fans looking for a new twist on an established setup, and for people who just like fun television. Cuoco is irresistibly watchable, devoting equal energy to clownishness and genuine pathos to make Cassie a compelling heroine. And her quick, crackling chemistry with Huisman as their bizarre romance develops results in some of the most unique scenes of television I’ve seen in recent memory. I’m going to resist using an airplane pun here like “book your ticket” and just tell you to watch the dang show when it premieres on HBO Max November 26.
